Ecosystems

September 10, 2007 07:56 AM - Associated Press

Crews worked through the night to fight a wildfire that has blackened 62,000 acres in the northeast Sierra Nevada and was only 15 percent contained.Shifting winds sent smoke from the growing wildfire heading back toward the San Joaquin Valley and San Francisco Bay area Sunday, authorities said.

September 9, 2007 12:49 PM - Paul Schaefer, ENN

Boulder, Colo. — New research says it started as an asteroid vs. asteroid collision and breakup far above earth, and got worse from there, with large chunks eventually striking earth and the moon. After years of analysis and computer modeling, scientists now believe the impact that wiped out dinosaurs and other life forms on Earth some 65 million years ago began with a breakup event in the main asteroid belt. A joint U.S.-Czech team from Southwest Research Institute and Charles University in Prague thinks the parent object of asteroid (298) Baptistina broke up when it was hit by another large asteroid.

September 9, 2007 12:15 PM - Paul Schaefer, ENN

University of Exeter, UK - Rising carbon dioxide levels will increase river levels in the future, according to a team of scientists from the Met Office Hadley Centre, the University of Exeter and the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology.
The findings, published on 30 August 2007 in the journal Nature, suggest that increasing carbon dioxide will cause plants to extract less water from the soil, leaving more water to drain into rivers which will add to the river flow increases already expected due to climate change.

September 9, 2007 12:03 PM - University of Michigan News

ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Birches will likely drive out many aspens in northern forests as mounting levels of carbon dioxide force the trees to compete more fiercely for soil nutrients in the coming decades, a University of Michigan researcher and his colleagues have concluded.
Carbon dioxide is emitted when fossil fuels are burned, and it's a heat-trapping gas blamed for global warming. But rising carbon dioxide levels also have a fertilizing effect on trees and other plants, making them grow faster than they normally would.

September 9, 2007 11:26 AM - Paul Schaefer, ENN

WASHINGTON — A three-year US-Mexican police undercover investigation has resulted in the arrest of five people, now charged with trade in protected species and items made from parts of those animals. Investigators say the five were engaged in international trade of exotic skins and parts manufactured from sea turtles and other protected species of wildlife.

September 9, 2007 10:52 AM - Paul Schaefer, ENN

NEW YORK, - From crop fields to hi-tech labs, scientists and bee experts are investigating a rapidly unfolding ecological nightmare. The Silence of the Bees premieres on Sunday, October 28 at 8 p.m. eastern on PBS (check local listings). Academy Award-winning actor F. Murray Abraham narrates the series. It was shot on high definition cameras.
Honeybees are responsible for one of every three bites of food we eat. Each year, they pollinate $14 billion worth of crops and seeds in the U.S. alone. Their total decimation would be catastrophic from the local to the global level -- failed businesses, skyrocketing food prices, unsustainable labor costs, and depleted supplies of fruits, nuts, vegetables, plants, and more.

September 9, 2007 08:31 AM - UNICEF

According to the Nicaraguan Civil Defence Force, over 34,000 people have been affected by Hurricane Felix in Nicaragua's northern Caribbean region and 8,441 houses were damaged. These figures are likely to increase as the rescue brigades reach communities isolated by the rain and swollen rivers.

September 9, 2007 08:26 AM - Reuters

Australia and Indonesia on Sunday signed a deal that aims to preserve 70,000 hectares (173,000 acres) of peat forest in Indonesia's Kalimantan region, re-flood 200,000 hectares of dried peat land and plant up to 100 million trees.

LONDON (Reuters) - Abandoning his Kalashnikov and dyeing his beard from grey to black, Osama bin Laden presents a new image to the world in a video that makes no specific threats but may be a signal for new al Qaeda attacks.
In a half-hour address released four days before the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States, bin Laden lurched between history lesson and sermon, urging Americans to ditch capitalist democracy and embrace Islam if they want to end the war in Iraq.

September 8, 2007 12:41 PM - Reuters

MADRID (Reuters) - Two giant pandas were welcomed like heads of state when they arrived in Spain from China on Saturday to begin a new life in an air-conditioned pagoda and custom-built gardens at Madrid zoo.
Seven-year-old male Bing Xing and 3-year-old female Huz Zui Ba were whisked through an area usually reserved for presidents and diplomats at Madrid airport before heading to the zoo in an air-conditioned truck, escorted by paramilitary police.